1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to monitoring database activity and particularly to a method, system, and program for presenting database activity in a graphic user interface using representative icons.
2. Description of the Related Art
Databases are computerized information storage and retrieval systems. A relational database management system (RDBMS) is a computer database management system that uses relational techniques for storing and retrieving data. Relational databases are computerized information storage and retrieval systems in which data in the form of tables (formally denominated “relations”) are typically stored for use on disk drives or similar mass data stores. A “table” includes a set of rows (formally denominated “tuples” or “records”) spanning several columns (formally denominated “attributes”). Reference is made to C. J. Date, An Introduction to Database Systems, 6th edition, Addison-Wesley Publishing Co. Reading, Mass. (1994) for an comprehensive general treatment of the relational database art.
An RDBMS is structured to accept commands to store, retrieve and delete data using, for example, high-level query languages such as the Structured Query Language (SQL). The term “query” denominates a set of commands for retrieving data from a stored database. These queries may come from users, application programs, or remote systems (clients or peers). The query language requires the return of a particular data set in response to a particular query but the method of query execution (“Query Execution Plan”) employed by the RDBMS is not specified by the query. The method of query execution is typically called an execution plan, an access plan, or just “plan”. There are typically many different useful execution plans for any particular query, each of which returns the required data set. For large databases, the execution plan selected by the RDBMS to execute a query must provide the required data at a reasonable cost in time and hardware resources.
To successfully implement an application that invokes queries, the RDBMS must provide a process to track or capture the database activity that is taking place within the system. Such processes are known in the art as “monitors”. Monitors can include, but are not limited to, processes that track the execution of queries against the database. All of the information captured from these monitors can be stored in either a log file or in another storage medium that will allow for easy access to the data to perform any analysis. The results of these monitors can be analyzed to determine if the system is operating in an optimal manner. Queries that are not making the best use of the system resources can be identified for further analysis or tuning.
Database monitors capture large amounts of relevant data on activity and events in databases. The sheer amount of data that is logged by monitors makes analysis of more complex database activity exceedingly time consuming and difficult. Currently in the art, existing database monitor tools are used to analyze long running database queries and database resources such as pools and buffers being hardest hit by queries. These tools are used by database administrators (DBA) to optimize and tune databases for increased performance.
While existing database monitoring tools are of some use to DBAs, no tools currently exist in the art that cater to the application programmer. Conventional database monitoring tools typically provide static information reflective of performance after query execution is complete. As the programmer is not concerned with database tuning, but rather how the application interacts with the database as a whole, the programmer needs a tool capable of displaying database interactions and behaviors as the application is interacting with said database.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved method for analyzing and displaying database activity and interactions in a graphic user interface using a system of representative icons.